Former Clerk of Court Smith seeks early termination of probation from 2010 embezzlement case

On the heels of an early end to federal probation, former Clerk of Court Elizabeth Smith is requesting termination of her state term for pilfering county money about 10 months ahead of eligibility.

A Beaufort County jury convicted her in September 2010 for using $23,500 in public money to pay for life insurance premiums for family and a vacation home in Georgetown County. S.C. Circuit Court judge Brooks P. Goldsmith then suspended five convictions that called for incarceration and issued five years of probation with 200 hours of community service, leaving her eligible for release in September 2013.

The motion from Smith’s attorney, Charleston-based Lionel S. Lofton, noted the defendant is eligible for early termination if all costs and fines are paid in full. It adds that Smith has met all the terms of her probation and her probation officer doesn’t object to early termination.

But 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone does.

He said Smith never showed remorse for violating the public’s trust during the course of his investigation and the trial he prosecuted, instead showing a sense of “entitlement to do what she did.”

“She’s never once acknowledged she’s done anything wrong, and I don’t see why she deserves any concessions, and that’s what it would be,” he said.

He said it’s not clear from the motion whether Smith’s attorney is asking for early release to take effect immediately or when she hits the three-year mark in September 2013, and Lofton couldn’t be reached for clarification.

A hearing date has not been set.

Smith was also charged by the U.S. Attorney’s office in September 2010 for using specially earmarked child-support money over a three-year period to pay her husband’s salary while he ran the Beaufort County Drug Court. She pleaded guilty to one count of conversion of public money.

Lofton entered a motion for early termination of her two-year federal probation term in September. The motion was granted a month later, according to court records.